


dance with me

by carrotycake



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Reality, Ballroom Dancing, F/F, Femslash, Fluff, Party, Royalty, and its like its just them two in the room, anyway just let me have this, even though its full of people, inspired by that one scene in pride and prejudice, where lizzie and darcy are dancing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 09:05:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12317928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carrotycake/pseuds/carrotycake
Summary: Attending a royal party is not something Hira had ever seen herself doing, but Allura is very persuasive, and, well, she would do anything for Allura.Or, I really wanted to write a royal ball scene with these two and goddamn I made it happen.//set in the same AU as my fic 'to you, in ten thousand years'//





	dance with me

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally going to go with the rest of the small drabbles & oneshots i had planned for these two but it sort of spiralled out of control and became over 3500 words.  
> anyway, it's set in the same universe as my first allura/hira fic, but all you really need to know is that in OUR reality, hira was a soldier back on altea and her and allura became close (cough cough) before the war and zarkon's betrayal. (that fic was kinda angsty so this is almost an AU of my AU jfc)
> 
> apart from that, please enjoy this generous serving of fluff i wrote! comments & kudos are always appreciated <3

“Shore leave?”

“Yeah, in two weeks’ time. Twenty solid quintents of freedom! Ancestors know I’m ready for it.”

Hira yawned and stretched, rolling over in her bunk to try and find a more comfortable position as she propped up her datapad on her pillow. Reception wasn’t great this far into the Bazak quadrant, meaning the picture on the vidcall crackled and warped as they spoke.

“Twenty quintents! That’s a long time.” On the other end of the call, Allura was kneeling on her bed, fiddling with some new Castle technology and frowning at the manual. Something electrical zapped her and she swore, shaking her finger irritably. Hira bit back a laugh. She was fortunate enough as the commanding officer to have her own, albeit small, cabin aboard the ship, but the walls were still thin and she had to be careful not to wake the rest of the crew.

“Yeah, the ship is heading to dry dock for some sorely needed maintenance. We’ve been having warning lights for...uh, a while. So, extra time off. No complaints from me here.”

Allura smiled, softly. “And are you heading home? To see your parents?”

Hira nodded. “For a couple quintents, yeah. Feels like decapheebs since I last saw them. They’ll probably just complain that I cut my hair again.” She ran a hand through her hair as if to demonstrate, pushing loose strands away from her face.

“I like your hair. It suits you.”

“Well, thanks. That makes one person, at least.”

The line fell silent for a second, Allura’s face screwing up in concentration as she fiddled with some different wires. Her silver hair is tied back into a loose ponytail, and Hira ached to remove the tie and run her hands through Allura’s long hair. Allura would complain, tell her that she’s distracting her from her work, she has important things to do and Hira’s just going to tangle it. Hira would just kiss her instead, tell her that whatever it is can wait, it can always wait....

“Hira? Can you hear me?”

Hira blinked, shaking herself awake. “Y-yes, Allura. Sorry, bad connection. What did you say?”

“I  _ asked, _ ” Allura frowned, “If you were doing anything over the weekend of the Moon Festival.”

“Moon Festival? Quiznak, that’s soon, isn’t it?”

“Yes. By my calculations, your shore leave begins a week before the festival begins. My father is holding a small celebration for the local residents back on Altea. I was going to - to ask him if you could attend.”

Hira blinked, incredulously, searching Allura’s pixelated face for signs that she was joking, but she appeared deadly serious.

“Me? Attend a royal party? Does your father know about...us?”

Allura blushed. “No. But we’ve managed to meet up in secret before.”

“Yes, when you manage to get away on your own for diplomatic missions! Not in your own house - er, castle. I think Coran will have my head.”

“Coran wouldn’t do such a thing. If he suspects anything, he’ll keep quiet. He’s like family to me, Hira.”

“I know,” Hira exhaled softly, gazing up at the ceiling. “Of course I’ll come, Allura. Anything for you. But aren’t people going to wonder what a lone soldier is doing in a room full of nobles and important people?”

“You  _ are  _ important to me.”

“You-” Hira buried her face in her pillow, grinning. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“I know. I was thinking of inviting your whole unit, actually. You have all been given awards from the King in the past, and it would show some good rep towards the military.” Allura moved closer to the camera. “And, by being invited you’ll be assigned quarters within the castle and I’ll be able to spend all weekend with you.”

“You’ve thought of everything,” Hira yawned again, checking her watch. She was due to go back on duty in approximately five vargas. Such was the problem with time differences in space. On screen, Allura frowned.

“Dammit, I told you to not let me keep you up again! Go to sleep, Hira. I don’t want you dying on me mere weeks before the party, just because you were too tired to do your duties properly.”

“I won’t,” Hira smiled, lazily. “Goodnight, Allura. Let me know what your father says.”

“Goodnight,” replied Allura, fondly. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

* * *

 

True to her word, a few days later the members of the 92nd Altean Exploration Corps all received an official invite to the palace’s Moon Festival celebrations via the mail function on their datapads.

“Ooooh,  _ someone  _ made a good impression with the princess last time!” Hira’s second-in-command, Sasha, clapped her merrily on the shoulder as they ate breakfast, mulling over the morning’s news before shift started.

“Sasha, for the last time, nothing happened. The King obviously feels like he owes our unit for helping Voltron, nothing more.” Hira rolled her eyes. She had to feign ignorance; for both hers and Allura’s sakes.

“Sure, sure. And the reason why you’ve been staying up all night with those big dark circles under your eyes is, what?”

Hira merely glowered at her second-in-command, before returning to the messages on her datapad. Below the official invite, ignoring all of the junk mail that had accumulated, was a message from an ‘encrypted user’. Hira snorted softly, opening up the email.

 

-o-

_ Hira, _

_ I’m presuming you got the invitation. Father is a little distracted at the moment - I didn’t want to say over a vidcall, but there’s been some tension amongst the paladins. I’m worried for him, but there’s not much I can do. I think he wants to protect me from the worst of it, if anything happens, but he also forgets that I’m not a child. _

_ Anyway, enough about me. I know you can’t tell me exactly where you are, but I hope you’re safe. Sorry for keeping you up the other night. I’ll be saving you a dance at the festival. _

_ All my love,  
_ _ A x _

-o-

 

Hira quickly checked that there was no-one looking over her shoulder, before typing a quick reply.

 

-o-

_ Allura, _

_ Yep, and my squadmates sure let me know about it. Sasha keeps teasing me about you, but I think the worst she suspects is that I’ve got a crush on you. Which I suppose I do ;) _

_ I hope everything’s okay with you. Your father just wants what’s best for you, I’m sure. It was good of him to agree, anyway. Obviously I made a good enough impression last time! Now I need to learn how to dance. Wish me luck. _

_ And Allura? I’d stay up all night for the chance to see your face again. _

_ Love you,  
_ _ H x _

-o-

She sent the message over the same secure channel, knowing that it would arrive at Allura’s terminal under an anonymous sender. The precautions were a pain, but necessary. Given that King Alfor - and by extension Allura - were in the military chain of command, Hira and Allura’s relationship would be automatically labeled as fraternising. Adding this to the fact that Allura was  _ bloody royalty _ , well, their relationship wasn’t something that could be made public.

It was a burden that weighed heavily on Allura - the consequences for them being found out were far more dire for Hira than they were for Allura, and Allura knew this. Hira wouldn’t let her apologise, though. Time was much too short to worry about such things.

Hira watched the rest of her squadmates receive their invitations. Now the only thing she had to worry about was dancing, and what the everloving  _ quiznak  _ she was going to wear.

 

* * *

 

Allura wasn’t any help when it came to fashion, it transpired. When asked during a vidcall a week later, the princess merely shrugged.

“Whatever you would usually wear to a ball. Don’t think too hard about it.”

“Love, I grew up on a  _ farm.  _ I don’t exactly go to balls regularly.”

“Oh, of course.” Allura’s face screwed up in thought. “Well, just wear something nice. You’ll look lovely regardless, I’m sure.”

Hira wasn’t so sure. She’d been wearing nothing but her uniform or casual civilian clothes for months. When she had first met King Alfor (and Allura), she had been wearing her dress uniform. ‘Nice’ clothes didn’t really fit into her vocabulary.

“Am I allowed to wear my dress uniform?”

“Only as a last resort. This is a party, not a formal ceremony!”

Hira rolled her eyes in mock disgust. “Ugh. The things I do for you, Allura.”

“You love me really.”

Hira pouted. “Unfortunately.”

After some deliberating amongst the rest of her crew - who were having similar fashion dilemmas - they stopped off to refuel at a swap moon and browsed the stores there for something,  _ anything _ , suitable for the ball. The Unilu, it transpired, were experts in this sort of thing and directed her to a number of stores that sold more than just dresses resembling oversized desserts.

Eventually, she picked out a tunic-and-leggings combo from the final shop they tried. The material was soft and shimmery, reflecting prettily in the changing room lights, and the colour, a deep indigo, ‘really brought out her eyes’ (according to the shop assistant). She was indifferent, mostly, but looking at herself in the mirror she had to agree that it was a nice outfit. Allura would be happy, at least.

 

* * *

 

The day of the Moon Festival arrived, and Hira found herself staring up at the Castle of Lions as they approached the entrance. She’d been here, once, many moons ago now. Or so it felt. Time passes differently when you’re in space, fighting, surviving. She’d met Allura here, and the rest, as they say, is history.

They had all been assigned rooms, again, and Hira once again found herself confounded by the winding layout of the Castle’s many corridors. She remembered being pulled along by the princess, tugging at her hand, laughing, as they looked for privacy.

Now, of course, the palace was filled with hundreds of guests and they didn’t have the liberty of escaping together. At least, not immediately. The corridors were starting to fill with people heading down to the dance, Hira could hear the chatter and the footsteps outside her door as she got ready. She fidgeted with the hem of her tunic in front of the mirror, feeling self-conscious. It didn’t feel very fancy, not compared to some of the guests that she’d seen. Still, she’d spent so long fussing over her appearance - she’d even put on  _ makeup _ , for crying out loud - that she was running late. And she didn’t want to miss the party - not least if Allura was going to be there. She might even get a dance.

Maybe.

In the meantime, thought, her and her unit had to show face, and be on their best behaviour. The party was in full swing even by the time they arrived, and the hassled guardsman announcing them all in was paid no attention by the majority of the guests. Which suited Hira just fine - the less attention paid to their attendance, the better.

She found herself a drink from a nearby table, and glanced around the ballroom, scanning the guests for familiar faces. Well, one face in particular. Allura was no-where to be seen; but then, perhaps she was simply making a late entrance. Still, it didn’t stop her from double-checking every silver-haired Altean that walked past. Just in case.

She wasn’t trying to look obvious, or desperate - but the rest of the royal family, including Alfor, Coran and various cousins and aunts and uncles, were all present. A waiter passed by holding a tray of glasses, and she quickly swiped another one before edging her way through the crowd. She had promised herself that she wasn’t going to get too drunk on nunvil, but it was early days and she was feeling particularly nervous.

“Announcing Her Royal Highness, Princess Allura!”

The glass Hira was clutching almost slipped through her fingers, and she caught it in the tick of time, narrowly avoiding spilling its contents over herself. Everyone in the ballroom had stopped what they were doing to watch the princess enter, and Hira - for once - was grateful for her tall stature, being able to see over the heads of most guests. The stairs leading into the ballroom were cleared of dancers, and Hira craned her neck to see where the princess would enter from.

When she finally appeared, Hira felt like she had died and entered another dimension because the woman standing at the top of the stairs must surely,  _ surely  _ be an angel. This wasn’t the princess she had met at a small gathering to commemorate a military victory; this was Princess Allura, sole heir to the throne of Altea, daughter of King Alfor.

She was wearing a long, flowing dress that shimmered and sparkled in the sun’s setting rays, and if Hira had to describe the colour she would probably say it was the colour of oceans. Her shoulders were bare, exposing just enough brown skin to make Hira a little weak at the knees whilst the straps looped around her arms, the sleeves made out of a sheer material that rippled when she walked.

_ This  _ Allura could rule nations and bring her enemies to their knees, Hira thought, eyes wide.

Allura acknowledged the crowd with a small nod, making her way gracefully down the stairs. Her eyes danced over the crowd; they found Hira’s easily and for a second Hira readily believed they were the only two people in the room. Then the moment passed, and Allura moved on to talk pleasantries with some of the nobles as the music started up again.

Hira knew it was silly to hope the princess would come to her first, so she found a suitable pillar to lean against and watch the action unfold instead. She amused herself by watching the faces of those Allura interacted with; everyone around her wanted to dance with her for the ongoing festivities. A small part of her sat smugly, knowing that, in private at least, the princess chose  _ her. _

Eventually, she grew tired of waiting, and noticed that Allura was stuck dancing with a small, squat alien lord who kept stepping on Allura’s feet by accident. Holding back a smile, she set her glass down and weaved her way through the crowd.

“Mind if I cut in?” she smiled at the small noble, playing up the charm. The lord glanced at Hira’s medals of service (overkill, perhaps, but her and her crew had all decided that it would help them look more important than they actually were) and decided not to argue, smoothly vanishing and leaving Allura - finally - in Hira’s arms. The band struck up a new song, a sweeping waltz-like melody, and Allura took the lead. Hira’s hand rested comfortably on Allura’s shoulder as the princess’s other hand was placed on the small of Hira’s back.

“Took you long enough,” Allura murmured, as she led Hira across the dance floor. Hira said nothing for a tick, still taking in the fact that she was dancing -  _ dancing -  _ with a princess,  _ her  _ princess.

“You looked like you were enjoying yourself,” Hira grinned, laughing as Allura looked indignant. “Watch, I’ll step on your toes.”

“Hira,” Allura’s voice lowered to a whisper, “You’re the only person I’ve wanted to dance with all evening.”

Her low voice sent shivers through Hira’s spine. “Is that so? You did promise me a dance, after all.”

“Don’t play coy. It’s been months since we last saw each other.” There was a longing in Allura’s eyes, one that Hira recognised as her own feelings.

“I know. Think we can escape later?”

“Lieutenant, I’m counting on it,” smirked Allura, and a flash of the sparky pilot that Hira knew hid beneath the princess mask showed through for a second.

They were both quiet for a few moments, and Hira allowed the music to wash over her as she sneaked a glance at her dance partner. She noted that Allura, underneath the regality and the glamour, looked more tired than when she’d last seen her. The tension between the paladins must be worse than Hira had initially thought. She’d ask Allura about it later, but for now she just wanted to enjoy the festivities.

“You look beautiful,” she said, quietly. Allura’s breath hitched - she could feel her shoulders tense under her touch - but she didn’t falter in her step. Still, Hira knew that it would have the intended effect as Allura’s hand on her back gripped her a little tighter.

“Not as stunning as you, though,” Allura murmured back, not meeting Hira’s eyes. “I noticed you in the crowd the moment I stepped into the room.”

“You like to make an entrance, huh?” Hira deflected easily, as they continued their waltz. She had never been as good as hiding her emotions as Allura was, and if Allura continued like that Hira wasn’t sure if she would be able to stop herself from kissing her, right there and then.

Allura shrugged, recognising Hira’s change of subject. “It’s what’s expected. The guests always appreciate a little glamour.”

“Myself included,” grinned Hira. Allura snorted.

“I never pegged you for the pretty ballgown type, Lieutenant.”

Hira merely smirked, lowering her voice and leaning in towards Allura. “When I know I’ll be getting the chance to peel it off you later, it’s always my type.”

Allura gasped, and Hira thought that she had definitely caught her off guard this time. Her feet missed a step and their knees collided awkwardly, taking them another few beats of the song to correct themselves.

“Hira!” she hissed, “That’s so - you’re so-”

“Charming? Seductive?”

“I was going to say  _ crude.  _ And you should be careful,” Allura whispered, “You never know who’s listening.”

Hira glanced around the room. Countless couples of all species and genders were dancing merrily to the music, and those who weren’t partaking in the action were laughing and drinking around the edge of the ballroom. No-one was paying any attention to the two young Altean women in the very centre of the room, waltzing aimlessly in a circle.

Which, to be honest, surprised Hira a great deal, because Allura was the  _ princess  _ and she was also  _ gorgeous _ , to put it lightly. Why  _ wouldn’t  _ all eyes be on her?

“I think we’re good,” she replied softly, squeezing Allura’s hand briefly.

Allura merely smiled in turn, her expression fond as she gazed at Hira. Looking straight into her eyes, Hira was barely aware of the other people in the room, the dancers and dignitaries that neither of them cared about. For a few blissful seconds, it was just Hira and Allura, alone together as the world span past them.

All too soon, however, the illusion shattered. The song came to an end, and the band departed the stage to take a short recess. With a start, Hira realised that she had to let go of Allura, and hurriedly bowed, pressing a kiss to Allura’s knuckles.

“A pleasure dancing with you, your highness,” she said, noting that Coran and Alfor were standing not too far away. Allura nodded, her regal mask firmly back in place.

“And you, lieutenant.”

Hira held on to Allura’s hand a beat longer than necessary, before hastily letting go and bowing again. She felt clumsy, because she hadn’t bowed to the princess in a long time. (For starters, Allura wouldn’t let her, and it felt wrong when she had already seen more of Allura than any visiting dignitary.)

Allura vanished into the crowd, apologetically, and Hira watched as she appeared next to her father and Coran, whose faces both brightened considerably on her arrival.  _ She really is a ray of sunshine,  _ Hira marvelled, shaking her head incredulously.

The rest of the evening passed without any hitches; only once did Hira have to step in to prevent her unit from embarrassing themselves.(Private Keno was attempting to propose marriage to an Arusian mayor, and Sasha was half-hiding behind a curtain, filming the scene; Hira escorted Keno out, apologised to the small mayor, and sent a dirty glare towards her second-in-command.)

As the band leader announced that they would be playing the final song for the evening, and if all the couples could please make their way to the floor for the traditional ‘send-off to the Moons’ dance, Hira - who had returned to leaning against one of the pillars - felt a slight tug on the sleeve of her tunic. She turned in surprise to see Allura, who put a finger to her lips and beckoned silently to follow her.

“What are you doing?” Hira asked, as soon as they were safely down a corridor and out of earshot of anyone in the ballroom. “You should be in there, celebrating the passing of the Moons or whatever. Isn’t it tradition?”

Allura stopped in her tracks and smiled wickedly, tracing a finger over Hira’s shoulder. “I’ve always thought that tradition can be highly overrated, you know.”

Hira grinned. “Me, too. Now, your place or mine?”

"That depends,” said Allura, moving dangerously up into Hira’s personal space and pressing her against the wall. Hira raised an eyebrow, glancing down and noting the flush spread across Allura’s cheeks.

“On what?”

“Whose room is closer.”

**Author's Note:**

> if u wanna yell about these two with me, you can find me on tumblr @ carrotycake / itsacuriousthing !! there is not enough hira content if you ask me, gotta fill the tag somehow :P


End file.
